‘Mermaid’ swims the Channel in one day

AN open water swimmer from Henley swam the Channel on Wednesday.

Laura Reineke, 50, a member of the Henley Mermaids, endured cramp, seasickness and jellyfish to complete the 21-mile (34km) challenge in about 16 hours.

She set off from Samphire Hoe in Dover at 2.38am, shortly after being lathered in Vaseline to prevent chafing, and spent the first two and a half hours of her swim in the dark.

She was accompanied by a pilot boat Anastasia and a support team comprising fellow Mermaid Joan Fennelly, friend Lee Saudan, who has swum the Channel herself, and Debbie Fraser, another friend.

Ms Reineke managed to maintain a swim stroke rate of between 58 and 59 for almost the entire way. Ms Fennelly called her a “machine”.

She arrived at Wissant Beach on the French coast before getting in the pilot to return to Dover, where she was greeted by friends and family including two of her children, Mae and Alfie.

Supporters sent messages of love and support to a WhatsApp group chat, which were relayed to Ms Reineke via a whiteboard by Ms Fennelly.

Ms Reineke’s parents wrote: “Speechless at your courage. So proud. Mum and Dad”.

Upon arrival at Samphire Hoe, she had food to fuel the first part of her swim. The water temperature was around 19.4C at the shore but as she neared the middle, it dropped to 18.4C.

Setting off, Ms Reineke said: “I’m okay. Slightly apprehensive now. It’s very dark and it’s quite bumpy because the waves are bumping off the harbour wall as we’re coming out, but apparently when we get to Samphire Hoe, it will settle down.

“I’ll have to jump in and swim to shore, wave at the boat and then swim back to the boat — all in the dark.”

At noon, she suffered from cramp in her leg and was joined in the water by Ms Saudan, who swam with her for a while.

They synchronised their swimming and the boat pilot and observer said it was the best example of a support swimmer they had ever seen. Ms Saudan helped pick up her pace at about 3pm as well by going for another swim.

Ms Reineke also suffered from bouts of seasickness but recovered after drinking some flat, warm Coca-Cola. She was fed liquid food from a line every couple of hours as well as chocolate treats.

Ms Reineke had been training for two years.

She said: “Since October it has been full on. At weekends there have been eight-hour swims on Saturdays followed by four- or five-hour swims on Sundays.

“I have had to go down to the coast as often as possible and there have been lots of hours in the open river You don’t stop as the tide will take you back and there are different strengths of tide, depending where you are”.

Ms Reineke, who founded and runs Henley Music School, is raising money through the swim to refurbish Trinity Hall in Harpsden Road to create a Henley Community Hub. She has raised more than £3,000 so far.

She said: “I am doing it because I can. I feel I am lucky to make it to 50 and I think we have to live our best life and do everything you can.

“Last weekend was the first weekend I had not swum and I did not know what to do with myself.”

To support her, visit https://tinyurl.com/2p9dassd